Flight School

If I compare aircraft utilization today, to the early 80′s, it is sad, really sad. I think too many flight schools have their rates cranked way up. They are failing to reach a decent level of aircraft utilization, and in order to remain viable, are passing the fixed costs on to their students with high […]

Position: Fifty miles southeast of KOAK (Oakland)Altitude: 18,000 feet and climbingGroundspeed: 370 knotsRate-of-climb: 2,800 fpmEquipment: A319Pax-on-Board: 123Airborne...It has been one of those weeks... Juggling a heavy flight schedule with family matters taking place away from the domicile. I am glad to be back in the cockpit where I am in control, more […]

That rushing sound, is it the crowd at Le Bourget,Swarming past the barriers and lightsTo scavenge my Spirit; to lift me upInto the air that only heroes breathe?Or is it the age-old sigh of sea on stones,Known to those who pace the shingleAnd the swirled black sands that wrapThese impossible islands in a shawl of waves?excerpt from "At Lindbergh's […]

Position: Over KAMA (Amarillo)Altitude: 33,000 feetGroundspeed: 554 mph (482 kts)Equipment: A321 Pax-on-Board: 183 + 4 jumpersDestination: KBOSAirborne...Earlier, my dispatcher was nervously clearing her throat while describing the weather north of Amarillo, extending all the way to Casper. She told me about thunderstorms with tops in excess of 65,000 feet. […]

Position: Over FMG (Mustang) VORAltitude: 31,000 feetFuel Flow: 5,400 lbs./p/hrEquipment: A320Compass Heading: 150 degrees Pax on board: 134Airborne...Two days at home, and then sent back to the cloud mines. When I was a kid, my mother used to say, "No rest for the wicked." Yikes! I hope that does not apply here. I try to be a good person, even whe […]

You'd awake every morning at 6:30am to the beautiful music of Merlin V12s at full power as half a dozen P-51s roar overhead to embark on the dawn patrol....You'd cheerfully chat with perfect strangers while standing in line for a lukewarm shower in a portable shower block....You'd plan every day over eggs & pancakes at Tall Pines Cafe, dec […]

As mentioned a while ago, I've been awarded a slot on the 757/767, but training isn't until late October and that means I get another four months on the Mad Dog. I just had lunch with a couple of guys down in Atlanta yesterday, and though they now all fly the 757/767 one noted that he had spent "five summers on the Mad Dog...because you always […]

After departing Staniel Cay on the morning of March 31st, the six of us in my Piper Pacer and our rented Piper Warrior headed northeast to the island of Eleuthera, site of the Bahamas' oldest settlement (in 1646, by Pilgrims expelled from Bermuda). Ours was a short visit: we flew low up the island's rocky eastern coast, checked out the impressive r […]

Never having flown a small plane to a foreign country or across a long stretch of open water, I expected the flying portion of our flying/sailing trip to be a challenge. I'm not sure what I expected - paperwork hassles, mostly, and ATC communications difficulties, maybe some substandard airports, perhaps even unscheduled maintenance in the middle of now […]

This is one of the hardest letters I will ever write. I'm leaving you. I didn't make this decision lightly. You're a great airplane, quirks and all, and we had some great times - even when you occasionally tried to kill me or get me violated. I grew to love you despite your faults, or maybe because of them. But now I've met someone new, s […]

When flying IFR, a pilot "reads back" that is repeats back all the instructions we receive from air traffic control, to demonstrate that we have heard and accept the instruction, and to give the controller a chance to notice if we have heard incorrectly, or if the controller misspoke. It gets a little silly sometimes: the pilot asks for a particula […]

On Saturday, sixteen-year-old Autumn Veatch was on board a Beech Bonanza, a zippy little single engine airplane, with her step-grandparents. Autumn must have been a passenger, as one must be seventeen to pilot an airplane like that in the United States. So her grandmother or grandfather was flying it. They were en route from Kalispell, Montana (at the southe […]

Here is one of the many reasons why there is not an exhaustive list of things to check on preflight inspection. You just walk around that airplane and poke bits of it until you're satisfied that it is airworthy. You'd think that would have included spotting a cat in a translucent wing, but apparently not. The cat seems less upset about the whole ex […]

A friend wrote today to congratulate me and my countrymen on the 106th anniversary of powered flight in Canada, and then he followed up to ask "is the best part taking off? I always imagine that the best part must always be taking off." And he's right. You get in and put on your seatbelt and make sure everyone's settled and nothing is in […]

During an annual training session for flight followers, my ops manager stated that no information on company operations was to be posted on social media. This restriction definitely wasn't targeted at me, and don't think anyone at work knows about this blog, but the ban definitely includes the sort of things I have been posting here. I'm going […]